Ask the Readers: If You Could Have One Wish (Chance to win $20!)

my only financial wish is to keep mr. murphy (murphy's law) out of my way.

i will handle the rest. . .

peace and happiness for my girl

I wish that my church would grow to the point where they could hire me on as staff. Right now I'm a volunteer minister and work three jobs to make ends meet. If the church could pay me, then I could quit one or two of those jobs and devote more time to the ministry.

That's an easy one. I'd wish for cash to go to my son's tooth fund. He's missing 18 of his adult teeth and will eventually need bridgework and implants. The dentist told us it would end up costing us over $40,000!

I would wish my mortgage to be paid for so we could be more generous in other areas of our lives...

Having only one wish is hard! Being it's only one, and has to relate to finances, I'll pick a selfish one. I would wish for enough money to buy a home on the ocean in NJ. We could use it now on weekends and holidays, and eventually retire there.

A completely selfish wish, but since I've been unemployed for over a year now, all my debts paid. I would love the chance to start fresh, to build up savings, buy a house, start a family, etc.

I wish I could afford to send my daughter's partner to an endometriosis specialist so she wouldn't be in the everyday pain she's in.

I wish I would maintain the will to live within my means!

If I could have one financial wish, it would be to have enough that I could find therapists for my kids. The local school board doesn't consider dyslexia to be a learning disability to handle, despite the fact that 75% of those who don't get help before Grade 3 will never read at grade level. I don't want it to be too late for my son, going into Grade 8. I don't want my kindergarten daughter to not get supports that will let her excel. And yet, I don't know how to find it on my own.

I would wish to be debt free, of course. To live without debt sounds like paradise to me.

I'd take a job I like and my student loans paid off.

For now my wish is just to see my family who I haven't seen them for almost 4 years :(. And after that, of course, debt free!

I wish for tuition money for both myself and my husband! We're both 26, recently married (ahhh, bills!), and he is going back to school full-time for his undergraduate degree while I'm attempting a part-time masters degree while working full-time.

I'd like to have enough money to "retire" from my job, maintain my standard of living, occupy my time with varoius volunteer work and give generously to the causes I believe in.

i'd wish to be hired asap for a job that i liked and paid well enough to cover my families small costs.

As others have said, debt free (house paid off), 529 fully funded for my daughter and enough for me and my wife to retire ($3 million). I'd add enough so my daughter can live comfortably, namely so that the debts she'll owe and higher taxes she'll have to pay to make up for this generation's mistakes don't financially cripple her. She's done nothing to deserve that.

I wish to be debt free

I would love to pay off my house with enough left over to travel every few months.

My wish is also to be debt-free, which means somehow $20,000 of student loan debt - soon to be $65,000 - and $8,000 of credit card debt would just magically disappear. I'll take a $20 Amazon giftcard in the meantime, tho. ;)

My financial wish would be for my mother and sister rather than myself. My sister is a single mother of three and she is caring for my ailing mother. I would like to secure a place for them to stay Something in a safe nieghborhood with a yard that is paid for.

Christine
dazed1821@aol.com

My wish would be to go to sleep at night knowing that our finances and the finances of our loved ones are in good order. We're all facing some sort of financial difficulties, whether it's paying off a credit card or budgeting for the basics at the grocery store. To know that my family can make ends meet and still have plenty of breathing room would be the ultimate granted wish.

I would ask for me to be happy for what I do for a living, to be satisfied and to have every single bone of my body believe it, so that the next step taken by the universe would be to have money working for me, and never the other way around...

My wish is this:

I am on the cusp of having my two side businesses generate enough income so I can quit my "day" job.

I am hoping for the last little nudge to get me over the top and allow me to quit my day job!

I would wish for the housing market to come down just a little bit more or for me to receive a raise so I can feel comfortable buying a house. As it stands now, it is just out of my reach.

my wish is for 60K. 30K for another adoption, and 30K for a new honda van to drive around my kids! (i have 3, but want 4 or 5) :)

I wish to have enough money to pay for my baby's ( now just bump!) education. I'de like to have enough set aside to pay for the very best in education.

I would wish for the housing market to come down just a little bit more or for me to receive a raise so I can feel comfortable buying a house. As it stands now, it is just out of my reach.

I'm okay but I wish my kids were financially stable.

Dearest money fairy, here is my Smart Cookie wish. I wish for enough money to buy my family a boat... a big boat... ok a Yacht, to sail around in, to laugh together in and enjoy time together in.

My husband and I have been waiting to adopt a child for almost a year. Our journey to parenthood has been a long and challenging one and...expensive! I have tossed many pennies into fountains, wished on numerous four-leaf clovers, and tossed a lot of salt over my shoulder wishing to be a mother. Winning the lottery would go a long way to help offset the cost of the adoption. However, I know when I hold my child in my arms the first time I'll have won something far more important than money.

If I could have one wish, I would ask for a complete clean slate. Debt (house & 1 credit card) be wiped out, all bills (utilities paid in full), receive a perfect credit score and a chance to start over and apply the financial knowledge that I have now that I didn't have before. I'd live below my means, give to charity, save for my daughter's college tuition, and only buy cars that were 3 years old or older.

My wish would be to go to cooking school when I retire. After being an employee for more than 30 years I think that cooking would be a great thing to do in MY SPARE TIME

To pay off my credit card so I can cut it up and never use it again!!

My wish is for my mother to find a full-time teaching position. She earned her special education certification two years ago, but has yet to find a job. This is a big career change for my mother, who had to leave her previous job due to an injury she sustained at work. Instead of mourning the loss of one job, she took the opportunity to pursue a career that she was passionate about. However, after five years of taking classes and passing all the required tests, and the additional two spent job searching, she has become discouraged. She worries that her age, limited experience, and the bad economy will prevent her from ever getting a job in the field that she cares so much about and has worked so hard to enter.

My mother and I have been having financial troubles ever since my father left us, nearly a decade ago, and I have seen my mom sacrifice so much for me. Her disability benefits ended three years ago and it breaks my heart to visit her and see her nearly empty refrigerator. I try to help when I can, but she often refuses my assistance and, as a recent college grad with the requisite college debt and a job folding laundry, I'm not in the best financial situation myself.

I would like for my mother to be able to afford healthy food and to keep the heat on in the winter. I want her to stop worrying and being sad. I want her to be able to travel to the places she keeps reading about in her library books. I just want her to be able to enjoy her life.

I don't want to $20, I just wanted to get my wish out there.

Smartcookies - for my DH to find a decent job for me to work less hard.

My wish is to enjoy the FREEDOM that financial independence offers.

To be able to create a source of revenue for myself.
To pursue interests based on choice instead of need.

I don't want to win the lottery because there is so much responsibility with all that money but I would love to win enough money to pay off my loan and my credit cards. It's not a lot of money but it would take a big burden off my husband and I. We could actually go out without worrying about if there is money in the bank and we could buy things for our 2 children.

SmartCookieKMOMMAJ
I wish to be free of the sense of panic that comes over me anytime a bill comes in the mail or something necessary breaks. My husband just got a job after being unemployed for 11-months in a state and county with some of the highest unemployment rates in the USA. There are no benefits and it's about 2/3 his previous pay, but it's a job. We're still happy and healthy as a family, but the financial stress makes day-to-day living difficult.

I wish I could win $50 million dollars so I could buy my apartment building that I'm living in and get some much needed renovations done on it.

First priority would be to buy and install a brand new heavy duty elevator that wouldn't consistently break down every week and leave people terrify to use it. To that end, I would ensure it was well lit and a telephone install with a direct line to the elevator company. I would also install a message board both in the elevator and on each floor beside it so tenants could advertise used goods or just chit chat amongst themselves.

Secondly, I would no longer shut the boiler off during the summer months so that people would have to rely on their space heaters to keep them warm. The heat and hot water are included in the rent. The hot water isn't turn off during the summer months so why is the broiler?

Thirdly, I would renovate the apartment I'm currently living in and convert it into a meeting room/building lounge for the tenants. I would have meetings once a month for the tenants to review any complaints that are arising from their living conditions and have someone keep meeting minutes that would be posted in the lobby area of the building.

Fourthly, I would install security cameras, both in the hallways and staircases (as well as the elevator) for security purposes. To that end, I would hire security guards so that the building was secure 24/7. Their main station would be in the lobby area with hourly rounds of the building, both inside and outside.

Fifthly, I would install an outdoor fire escape on the north side of the building as that side has no access to the outside at all. If there was a fire in that area, the tenants would literally be trapped.

Sixthly, I would renovate both the storage and laundry rooms by buying new washers and dryers that wouldn't break down and leak water from the laundry room into the hallway area. I would redo the storage room so that the pipes would be replaced and enclosed from leaking onto people's belongings. Also the storage lockers would be larger and more sturdy.

I would also get rid of any old stoves and refrigerators by calling 1-800-JUNK on a weekly basis, instead of having them linger for months in either the laundry room or the basement hallway. To that end, I would do an inspection of each apartment and ask the tenants how their stoves and refrigerators are and if they have any concerns about them.

Seventhly, I would give the tenants a New Year's present by making January a rent free month. That would be a tenant appreciation month and allow tenants more money to pay their Christmas bills.

In addition to all that I would also plan a neighbourhood block party in the summer time by applying to City Hall for permits to block off the street for one day so not only do the tenants get to know their neighbours in the building but also along the street itself.

To that end I would also create a Neighbourhood Block Watch Program.

These are only a few things I would do with the money. There are many more ideas I would do with the building itself.

In addition, I would help out in the community itself. There are projects I would like to do like, for example, there's a couple of churches that I know that need elevators for wheelchair accessibility into their buildings. I might even open up a nursing home that would be LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) friendly and would not discriminate against anybody due to their skin colour, sexual orientation, religion, or gender.

I would also become a member of the City's Chamber of Commerce and learn about businesses that are looking for workers and advertise those job opportunities in the building.

This is just some of the ideas of what I would do with the 50 million dollars.

I would wish to be debt free! And have the wedding of my dreams!!

To be debt free!!

I would wish to have my mortgage paid off. Since we're making wishes here, I'll also add to have my siblings tuition paid off also. Oh and probably some extra money to buy my parents a new car. They bust their butts making sure their children get the best of everything while they suck it up and drive beat up ghettomobiles.

My daughter has been either marginally employed or on disability since age 20. She now has a job she can do from home, but health concerns (hers and, later, her husband's) meant consumer debt. They've paid it all off, but her husband has been unemployed for two years now.
As a result, they have very little ready cash. If my financial fairy godmother gave me a wish, it would be to have enough money to get them a house so they could stop paying rent. If this were a multi-part wish, I'd also wish that they could have an EF, a new (but practical) car and a job for her husband.
Oh, and a baby, too. Although that's one part they can do for themselves. ;-) But as things stand now, they can't afford to.

I wish I could have the financial freedom to travel my hearts desire!!!! I would LOVE to own my own vacationhome one day :))))))))))))))))))))))

I wish I had enough to make a difference in someone's life that needed just enough to start over. If I could help one person a day it would be even better.
One of my closest friends is homeless this summer with her childern. What a difference two months rent would make in her life.

I wis there was only four work days for me instead of five,,,the 5th 6th 7th would be volunteering

My wish would be....to have our 10 to 20 acres of land to be selfsufficient with our own chickens, cows, goats and pig (maybe).

I wish for my old and ugly aunt Sallie Mae (worth $90k) to move out of my wallet, house and LIFE. I'll do everything I can to make this move happen ASAP. :)